For those who followed my sliders from last year, there were a few principles that I wanted to carry over to this year's game, and with FIFA 13 providing superior player control to last year's game, I believe there is plenty of opportunity to improve upon the overall gameplay experience.

Key highlights:

1. As with last year, teams should be able to play in easily differentiated styles right out of the box - I like using Custom Team Tactics, but it is a pain trying to align every team's gameplay style for Career Mode. In this slider set you will definitely see high pressing, tiki-taka style football from Barcelona, alongside tightly defensive, aggressive long-balling from Stoke City.

2. Last year's gameplay hurdle was trying to alter the CPU AI in order to get away from "dancing with the ball" gameplay. This year, the dancing is gone, replaced by a relentlessly direct approach from the CPU that is unrealistic, unpunishable, and turns the game into a sprint fest.

Fortunately, this year's CPU problems are directly tied to the same sliders as last year's problem (although manifested in different ways): CPU Run Frequency and User Marking. Having now manipulated these sliders two seasons running, I am now fairly concrete in my hypothesis that the CPU Run Frequency slider is a "god" slider of sorts - that is, it overrides all CTTs and user ratings in order to "even out" the gameplay.

Thus, as with last year, I've set it to 0 - causing teams and players to play true to their ratings. With that being said User Marking (just like last year with the dancing issue) is a factor, in that it governs the "threat level" perceived by CPU players. Last season I also had this slider at 0, and with the diminished threat, the CPU no longer felt the need to dance around with the ball, but rather play straight to the ratings. This year, as aggression in attack is the issue, I found after testing that having this slider set too low will cause the CPU to ignore all threats and start attacking aggressively, but setting it too high will trigger last season's dancing behavior all over again. Setting this at 20 resulted in more life-like behavior - passing backwards, slowly building up (in the case of Barca), seeking new vantage points for crosses (in the case of Stoke). This is how I was able to get the CPU to vary its attacks.

3. The World Class/Legendary CPU in FIFA 13 is automatic in everything - passes, crosses and shots are super-accurate, they don't seem to be attempting moves, rather just attacking with precision depending on where your players are or are not. This is remedied in the shot, passing, and first touch settings. Now you will see actual intent, actual mistakes, and more logic in build up on the part of the CPU. Just like the user, the CPU will attempt ambitious passes that often don't connect, and when it does connect on a spectacular move, you will feel less cheated.

4. Just because the game shouldn't be a sprint-fest, doesn't mean it shouldn't be responsive. The nuances in build-up and marking on the part of the CPU mean that the game's speed is now contextual to both what you and CPU are trying to accomplish - the flow of the game becomes more organic, fast when it needs to be, slow when dictated. Counterattacks on both parts should occur when the opposition's defense is caught out of position, and build-up should be a thinking man's game.

5. Finally, I'd like to thank Orion523, JamieMUFC1990, JD_Seven, and Gonira for their slider work so far this year, not every idea in this set is my own, and some of their discoveries along the way have made it into this set.

On to the sliders...

12/27/12 updates are listed in red

Auto Switching: Manual
Move Assistance: High
Assistance: Off/All Manual
Analog Sprint: On
Defending: Tactical (I've come to enjoy Legacy moreso than tactical for FIFA 13, but you can use either setting without needing to change the sliders - you will likely win more tackles with Legacy and approach even stats with the CPU, but possession stats aren't affected that much either way)

Thanks, just like last year I tried to implement your line settings, but they ended up messing with how the CPU plays in my set too much. Getting perfect AI in this game is impossible it seems like sometimes...

So I've tested these some more, fairly considerably, and have made updates in the OP. I think I've finally, fully, cracked the code on playing against a believable AI that builds up very realistically, varies attacks based on play style, doesn't move and pass robotically, and keeps shots and tackles in a realistic statistical range for 15-minute matches.

On the user side, the game is even more responsive, allows for strong combination play on manual settings, and requires a tactical approach to have success. With a strong side, experienced players should find themselves occasionally able to wipe out weaker opposition, have a clear challenge with equal opponents, and have their hands full with stronger sides. For those of you who enjoyed playing my set from last year, I can finally say that I feel that this set is much stronger...

You slider set plays well. I definitely see a different attacking CPU with the run frequency set at 0. Much less direct that with the other sliders I've used.

While I agree that the CPU has a bit of a speed cheat, I find it a bit too easy when the CPU has less acceleration, especially with the line width at default. I was able to just exploit too many gaps. I set acceleration back to equal and it plays better.

You slider set plays well. I definitely see a different attacking CPU with the run frequency set at 0. Much less direct that with the other sliders I've used.

While I agree that the CPU has a bit of a speed cheat, I find it a bit too easy when the CPU has less acceleration, especially with the line width at default. I was able to just exploit too many gaps. I set acceleration back to equal and it plays better.

I couldn't get past how psychic the CPU is in this year's game, and felt that while the slight tick in CPU acceleration does make the game slightly easier in an overall sense, I also felt that it makes it more realistic as well. IMO, playing with CPU acceleration at 50 does not break the slider set at all, the gameplay changes are still evident. It just bothers me that EA's notion of "harder" gameplay is a psychic CPU that kills any of the spontaneity of the game when playing on manual.

i think your settings are very good zjac maybe the most realitic ive seen so far but my only problem with it is the line height because even when i had my defenders on full pressure they were standing too deep, i tried user on 50 and cpu on 51 and that was ok but I reckon the computer still plays too deep because thats the way the tactics make them play i think but I think the user line height could be higher to make them more in your face like in a real match, i tried 70 which was good for their attack but not had the time to determine of their defence in realitic cos i couldnt get the ball enough yet but defo higher than what it is would make them much more realistic and fun